Guest column: The Second Amendment does not imply unlimited access to weapons

Suzie Colbert, of Arlington, Va., holds he sign high as Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., right, acknowledges her during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12 to welcome members of the Sandy Hook Ride on Washington, a team of 26 cyclists who rode from Newtown, Conn. to the Capitol to call for legislation to curb gun violence. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Nicole Robertson is the Grand Rapids chapter leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She is responding to a series of guest columns about gun violence.

By Nicole Robertson

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Last week was the three-month anniversary since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. On that day, the nation watched in horror as 26 innocent people, most of whom were children, were gunned down in their classrooms.

There was a palpable sense of disbelief and heartache that something so heinous and cowardly could happen in our country, land of the free and home of the brave.

Tragically, since that terrible day, nearly 3,000 people have lost their lives to gun violence in the United States.

Each of their deaths may not have been splashed across the front page of the media but that doesn’t make their deaths any less tragic. There is a family behind each of these victims who will forever be ripped apart by gun violence.

On a recent family vacation, as I stood in the security line at the airport, I imagined the public outrage if there were a separate gate through which 40 percent of the crowd could enter the terminal, completely unchecked, completely unregulated, and then board an airplane.

This is essentially what happens with gun purchases in the United States. Recent polls report that more than 90 percent of Americans support background checks for all gun purchases.

Nicole RobertsonCourtesy photo

As I write this column, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is discussing this issue as well as other sensible gun legislation proposals. We must make our voices heard by contacting our elected representatives and telling them that we support such measures to reduce gun violence. We owe it to the next generation to promise that we can, and will, do better.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots organization formed in the days after Sandy Hook. We are moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

We are Democrats and Republicans.

We are gun owners and non-gun owners. We are the voice of many who have had enough of the scourge of gun violence in our country.

We are the voice of thousands who are no longer willing to let special interest lobbyists prey on our fears and deﬁne the type of country in which we want our kids to grow up.

We are the voice that respects the Second Amendment but believes that sacred right does not imply unlimited access to weapons.

We are the voice that will demand sensible changes to our nation’s gun laws and will not rest until those changes are made.

Gun violence is a blight on our nation. It crosses racial, religious, and socioeconomic lines. It is our problem and “we the people” must make our voices heard that we will no longer sit idly by and silently grieve the loss of so many lives.